Seven former and incumbent government officials were recommended by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to the vacant post of Ombudsman.

In a letter to President Marcos dated Oct. 6, 2025, the JBC recommended (in alphabetical order) Michael Galicia Aguinaldo, Stephen Caperina Cruz, Samuel Hufano Gaerlan, Anna Liza Gonzalez Logan, Mario Villamor Lopez, Michael Frederick De Leon Musngi, and Jesus Crispin Catibayan Remulla.

Aguinaldo was the former Commission on Audit chairman and incumbent Philippine Competition Commission chairman; Cruz was a retired Court of Appeals associate justice and incumbent chairman of the Philippine Postal Corporation; Gaerlan is an incumbent Supreme Court (SC)associate justice;

Logan is the incumbent deputy executive secretary; Lopez is a retired SC associate justice; Musngi is an incumbent Sandiganbayan associate justice; and Remulla is the incumbent secretary of the Department of Justice.

One of them has to be appointed by President Marcos on or before Oct. 24 to comply with the constitutional mandate to appoint a successor within 90 days from the date of vacancy.

Then Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires retired last July 27 after serving his term for seven years.

The JBC is a constitutional office that accepts, screens and nominates appointments to the judiciary, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Legal Education Board. It is headed by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo as ex-officio chairperson.

Since Chief Justice Gesmundo is still on wellness leave, Acting Chief Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen presided over the JBC’s meeting on Monday, Oct. 6, and signed the council’s letter addressed to the President.

The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) was created in 1989 under Republic Act No. 6770.

Under RA 6770, among the OMB’s functions are “to investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public officer or employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.”

The OMB “has primary jurisdiction over cases cognizable by the Sandiganbayan and, in the exercise of his primary jurisdiction, it may take over, at any stage, from any investigatory agency of government, the investigation of such cases under Section 15(1) RA 6770 and Section 13(1), Article XI, of the Constitution.”

RA 6770 also provides: “the Ombudsman and his Deputies, including the Special Prosecutor, shall be natural born citizens of the Philippines, at least 40 years old, of recognized probity and independence, members of the Philippine Bar, and must not have been candidates for any elective national or local office in the immediately preceding election whether regular or special. The Ombudsman must have, for 10 years or more, been a judge or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.”